Former Brighton Citizen of the Year Mary Wood passed away peacefully recently, with a public service held at the Claremont Baptist Church in September.

The star of popular Tasmanian documentary Mary Meets Mohammed, Mary was recognised for her years of giving back to the community through her charity work. Mary’s volunteer efforts ranged from teaching knitting in schools to making presents to gift to charity.

After Mary’s knitting group started making beanies for asylum seekers at Pontville Detention Centre, Mary met Mohammed, who was from Afghanistan. On the surface, they couldn’t have been more different, with Mary being an older Christian lady and Mohammed a young Muslim man. Their friendship was followed over 16 months, and shown in the film by Heather Kirkpatrick, who gave Mary’s eulogy at her service.

The documentary was received with much acclaim, winning a host of awards across the world, including Walkley Award Finalist Documentary 2013 for excellence in journalism, and Winner United Nations Media Peace Prize – Special Award for Promotion of Multicultural Issues 2014.

Mary was honoured as Brighton’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year in 2014, where she was accompanied to the ceremony by Heather. “I am so grateful that I have been able to change some people’s opinions about how they see asylum seekers,”